More About the Children of
Narcisse and Edesse.

Hermine Petelle Gervais Woodman (1856-1950).

"Marie Herminigile Petelle was baptized in the year 1856. The godfather was Lucien Masson and the godmother (her aunt) Martine Petelle." The baptism was found in the church records at Notre Dame de Montréal on May 4, 1856; she had been born the night before on the 3rd. She was 15 when her family moved to Wisconsin in 1871.

Four years later on 24 September 1875 she married Noe Gervais in Bay View, Milwaukee, Wisconsin at Immaculate Conception Church with her parents "Narcissus Petell and Hattia Mondu" as witnesses. Noe was a 20 year old boilermaker for the Milwaukee Iron Company. A year later, son Narcisse (Nelson ) Noah was born, and his grandparents served as sponsors at his baptism. Peter Charles followed in 1878. In that year's city directory Noe's occupation was blacksmith. Noe was a witness to the baptism of his uncle Peter (Pierre) Goyette's child in 1880 at the same church.

Nine Children.

The couple had nine children in all. Son Harry was born in 1882, Joseph in 1885, and Lillie, who lived only a few weeks in 1886. In 1888 Richard was born. That year the family may be found in the Ashland, Wisconsin city directory at the same address where Hermine's younger brothers Joseph and Edwin boarded at 220 Twenty-first avenue East. Noe was employed by the Milwaukee, Lake Shore & Wisconsin (MLS&W) railroad as a carpenter. Their son Frank was born in 1891 followed by Roy in 1894. In 1893 the MLS&W Railway merged into the Chicago & Northwestern and son Noah had joined the workforce as a wiper for the same company (wipers cleaned the oil and residue from the train engines). It appears he died on September 30, 1893 at 17 years of age. That year, the family was living at 2101 East Third, next to Hermine's brother Joseph and his wife Lulu.

The Gervais' youngest son, Raymond, was born in Chicago on June 5, 1896. The Panic of 1893 had sent the nation into a depression. Ashland was hit hard by it and by wildfires and depleted lumber supplies. Noe Gervais and Joseph Petelle moved their families back south. Noe went to work with brother-in-law Henry Odenbrett as a corset cutter in Chicago. In August of that year, Noe and Hermine were once again tapped as godparents in Milwaukee, this time for her brother Charles' son Leo.

Noe died and was buried July 13, 1898 in St. Agnes cemetery according to an obituary in the Ashland Daily Press. He had been residing in Chicago when he became ill. He returned to Ashland for his health in the year before his death. Hermine stayed in the Ashland home with her sons Charles, who worked on the ore docks, Harry, Joseph, Edward, Frank, Roy and Ray.

Second Marriage.

On May 7, 1901 Hermine, 45, married William Woodman, 39. Inexplicably, they are recorded in the 1905 Wisconsin census as "Moe" and "Anna" Gervais. They were in Ashland in the 1910 census with four of her sons. Husband William was a collector. Son Harry, 26, was a carpenter, and Richard, 22, a brakeman. The youngest, Roy, 16 and Raymond, 13 are also present. Her other sons also lived in the neighborhood. This census confirms two of her nine children had died.

In the 1930 census, Hermine Woodman was once again a widow, then living with her son Raymond and his family in Ashland at 2101 3rd Street East. She was 73. Raymond had married Mattie in Wisconsin in 1919. Their three children were listed in this census. Harry and his family are on the previous page, on 4th Street. He and Mary, his wife of 16 years, had 6 children. Joseph and Frank and their families lived on the same street. Roy was in Chicago on Fulton Street with his wife Theresa and their six children.

Her son Frank, 41, was killed on 4 June 1932, according to this account published in the Sheboygan Press (Sheboygan, Wisconsin); on June 6, 1932:

A Long Life.

Hermine Woodman was mentioned in the obituary of Mrs. Matilda Odenbrett as her "...fond sister..." This was March 15, 1946. A reference to Hermine was found in the 1947 Ashland city directory living with her son Raymond at 814 MacArthur av. She was a member of St. Agnes Church and of the Third Order of St. Francis. 

Hermine lived the longest of all her siblings; she was 94 years old at her death in 1950. The headline of her obituary declared she had 97 great-grandchildren. She is interred in St. Agnes cemetery in Ashland, Wisconsin.